Telephone-support



(No Mbdel.)

T. W. LANE.

TELEPHONE SUPPORT.

No. 287,301. Patented Oct. 23, 1883..

N. PETERS. PhahrLilhngnpllur. \Vllhinginn, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS V. LANE, OF BOSTON, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES \VILLIAMS, JR, OE SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

'TELEPHONE-SUPPO'RT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 287,301, dated October 23, 1883.

I Application filed June 14, 1883. (No model.) 7

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS \V. LANE, of

- Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, 11. ve invented certain Improvements in Telephone-Supports, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a telephone-support for use at telephone-exchanges or central offices, adapted to be secured to the operators body, and to support a telephone in convenient relation to his ear, the telephone having no connection with the operators head, so that he can remove his ear from and apply it to the telephone at will.

My invention consists, as a whole, in a telephone-support adapted to rest on and be secured to the operators body below the head, and adapted to positively support a telephone in suitable proximity to the ear.

The invention consists, also, in the provision of means for adjusting the support to Vary the position of the telephone with relation to the operators ear.

The invention consists, lastly, in certain details of construction and combinations of parts, all of which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a telephone-support embodying my invention in place on the operators body. Fig. 2 represents an elevation of the same.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a plate or base, a, adapted to rest on any conven ient part of the operator s body below the head, and preferably on the shoulder, as shown in Fig. 1. The base (1,1 provide with any suitable means for attachment to the clothing or body of the operator. In the present instance straps c c are employed, the same being secured to the base a, and provided with buttonholes engaging with buttons on the operators coat. There should be about two of these straps at each side of the base. It is obvious, however, that straps passing under the operators arms around the body may be employed,

or any other devices capable of accomplishing the same result.

d represents a standard supported by the base a, and projecting upwardly therefrom, the upper end of said standard being near the operators ear when the support is in place. Said standard may, if desired, be rigidly attached to the base; but I prefer to secure it adjustably by means of .a plate, e, to which the standard is attached, said plate being pivoted at f f to cars 011 the base a, so that it can as- 6o some any .desired inclination with relation to said base, and thus vary the distance between the upper end of the standard and the operators ear. The plate e is provided with an adjusting-screw, 9, working in a threaded socket 6 5 in said plate andbearing on the base a, so that it is adapted to hold the plate 0 and standard din any position to which they may be ad justed. The standard is preferably inserted in a tube, 6, rigidly attached to the plate 6, and held thereon by a setscrew, i, so that the standard can be additionally adjusted by turning it in said socket. r

j represent the telephone, which is secured to the upper end of the standard 1, and is held '75 positively thereby in the proper relation to the operators ear. The standard may be adapted to hold a telephone of any desired construction but I have shown it, in the present instance, in connection with a newly in- 8o vented telephone for which Thomas D. Lockwood and myself are about to make application for Letters Patent. Said telephone hasa stud or shank, k, attached to its rear surface, and in said stud is an orifice or perforation which receives the upper end of the standard.

A set-screw, m, in said stud bears against the standard and secures the telephone thereto at any desired height. The described device 7 enables the telephone to be supported'by the 0 body independently of the head, so that the operator can, by moving his head slightly in one direction or the other sidewisc, present his ear to or withdraw it from the telephone.

The lateral adjustability of the device enables 5 the operator to fix the telephone as far from or as near to his car, when his head is erect, as may be desired. The vertical adjustability enables the telephone to be suited to the height of the operators ear above his shoulder.

Heretofore an ear-telephone, or a tube connected with a telephone, has been secured to the operators head, so as to move therewith and occupy an unvarying relation to the car, so that the operator cannot remove his ear from the telephone by a movement of his head. My improvement is the first instance, so far as I am aware, of the connection of a telephone to the operatofls body, independently of the head, by devices which positively support the telephone in an elevated position above the body or shoulder, so that the operator can apply or remove his ear by moving his head without disarrangemcnt of the telephone. details herein described, but consider any construction whereby the results above set forth are attained as coming within the scope of my invention.

I claim-e 1. A telephone support provided with means for attachment to the operators clothing or body below the head, adapted to positively hold a telephone in a position elevated above the body and in convenient'relation to the ear, and provided with means for adjusting the telephone toward or from the ear, and for holding it in any position to which it may be adjusted, as set forth.

2. A telephone-support consisting of a base adapted to rest on and be secured to the body or clothing below the head, and a standard supported by said base, and adapted to support Itherefore do not limit myself to the v a telephone in convenient relation to the ear,

1 as set forth.

3. In a telephone-support, the combination of a base adapted to rest on and be secured to the body or clothing, a standard supported by saidv base, and adapted to support a telephone near the ear, and means for adjusting said standard to vary the position of the telephone with relation to the car, as set forth.

4. The combination of the base or plate a, provided with means for attachment to the body or clothing, the plate 6, pivoted to said base, and provided with the telephone-supporting standard (I, and means for varying the inclination of said plate e and its standard relatively to the base a, as set forth.

5. The combination, with the standard (1, having means for attachment to the operators body or clothing, of the ear-telephonej, provided with means for attachment to said standard, as set forth.

6.-The ear -telephone j, having the perforated stud or shank attached to its rear surface and a set-screw in said stud, combined with the standard (1, adapted to enter the perforated stud, and provided with means for attachment to the operators'body, as set forth.

In testimon y whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 9th day of June, 1883.

THOMAS W. LANE.

W'itnesses:

O. F. BROWN, A. L. WHITE. 

